Chapter Twenty-four
Hannah was just cutting her newest creation, Butterscotch Chocolate Bar Cookies, and placing them on a platter when Lisa came through the swinging door from the coffee shop. “Lynne Larchmont’s on the phone for you, Hannah.”
“Thanks, Lisa. Take a pan of these out to the coffee shop and ask our customers to taste-test them for us.”
“They smell great!” Lisa said, coming over to grab a pan of bar cookies from the bakers rack. “What are they called?”
“Butterscotch Chocolate Bar Cookies.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about anyone not liking them,” Lisa said with a laugh. “Our customers adore bar cookies, the stickier and gooier, the better.”
“Then they’re going to love these. That butterscotch is sticky.”
Hannah licked her fingers and went to the sink to wash her hands before she reached for the phone. “Hi, Lynne,” she greeted her friend. “What’s new?”
“A lot, but I’ll wait to tell you when I see you. I called to ask you if you could have dinner with Tom and me tomorrow night.”
“Tom’s back?”
“Not yet, but he called me this morning to say that he’ll be back tonight or early tomorrow morning.”
Hannah thought about that for a moment. She really didn’t want to socialize right now. “I’m not sure I’d be very good company right now, Lynne.”
“I understand, but it might do you some good to get out. I’m going to stay out here for another week, Hannah.”
“I know. You’re going to be interviewed at the film festival, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but KCOW is going to postpone the festival until the first week in June.”
Hannah was surprised, but it did make sense. “Because of what happened to Ross?” she managed to say.
“I’m sure that’s part of it. They didn’t come right out and say that, but it’s got to be a factor, especially since Crisis in Cherrywood won the award for the most popular Minnesota film, and Ross won’t be here to be interviewed, or to accept his award.”
“That is a problem,” Hannah admitted. “Do you think they’ll ask Dean Lawrence to accept the award for Ross?” Hannah named the director of the film.
“That would be a logical choice, but Dean moved to England and he’s working full-time there. I doubt that he’d fly back to the States for a small, regional film festival.”
“How about Dom?” Hannah named the assistant director.
“I don’t know. It all depends on whether or not they can find him and if he’s free to come. Everyone on the cast and crew split up after we wrapped the film. I’ve stayed in touch with some of the actors, but everyone on the crew has scattered all over the place.”
“Then it’ll be a real problem?”
“Not necessarily. Since the award show will be covered on television, almost everyone in the cast will come. It’s like a paid advertisement for how good they are at their jobs.”
“I can understand that. How about you?” Hannah asked her. “You’re coming to the film festival, aren’t you, Lynne?”
“Yes. It’s the first time I’ve been invited to an award show and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Not only that, I love Lake Eden. I’ll jump at any excuse I get to come back here.”
“Did you tell the PR person at KCOW that you’ll come back?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Then maybe they’ll ask you to accept the award for Ross.”
Lynne was silent for a moment and when she answered, she sounded hopeful. “It’s possible they’ll ask me. People accept awards for other people all the time.”
“I know.” Hannah thought back to the last award show she’d watched and how Mayor Bascomb had accepted his sister’s STAG statuette.
“If they didn’t mention Ross when they called you, what reason did they give you for postponing the festival?”
“They blamed it on weather. They told me that since more severe winter storms were predicted and it could be difficult for people to travel to Lake Eden.”
“That’s possible. KCOW’s counting on good ratings and they won’t get them if most of the big names bow out. And Mayor Bascomb was counting on a lot of people coming into Lake Eden and spending money.” Hannah stopped talking for a moment and began to frown. “I wonder if the mayor knows that they decided to postpone the festival.”
“I’m not sure. They said they called me first because I won the leading actress award and they knew I’d arrived two weeks early. Do you want to call the mayor and let him know, Hannah? I called you right after I got the call from the PR guy at KCOW.”
Hannah gave a short laugh. “There’s no way I’m going to break the news to the mayor!”
“Then do you think I should call him?”
“Absolutely not! There’s no way you should give the mayor bad news. Mayor Bascomb’s the type of person who’d shoot the messenger!”
“Thanks for the warning, Hannah. I know exactly what you mean and I won’t even consider calling him.”
After she’d accepted the dinner invitation with Lynne and Tom, Hannah said her goodbyes and hung up. Then she went to the freezer to check the status of the peanut butter balls she’d formed. She’d decided to make candy for Valentine’s Day. They’d never done that before, but there was always a first time.
Hannah slipped on a pair of food service gloves and picked up one of the candy balls to see if they were hard enough to dip in chocolate. They weren’t so she returned them to the freezer and turned to look at the clock. Another hour should be enough, especially if she kept the temperature of the melted chocolate that she’d use for dipping as low as possible.
Hannah was just gathering the ingredients for more cookies when there was a knock on the back kitchen door. It was a distinctive knock and even though she didn’t really have to look through the peephole to know who was there, Hannah looked before she opened the door. “Hi, Norman,” she said, ushering him in. “I was wondering when you’d get here.”
“I’m sorry it took so long. I thought I’d be back earlier, but Cliff had a problem downloading the photos from Clara’s phone.”
“You mean he couldn’t do it?”
“No, he got them, but it took longer than he thought it would. I got everything, Hannah. And I printed out several photos I’d like you to see.”
“I’ll get coffee for us and then you can show me,” Hannah said, setting a platter of bar cookies on the surface of the work station. “Will you try my newest bar cookie?”
“You betcha!” Norman reached out for one, took a big bite, and gave her a thumbs-up signal. Then he swallowed and smiled. “They’re great, Hannah! Is that butterscotch with the chocolate?”
“Yes, Mother thought that combination would be good.”
“She was right,” Norman said as he reached for another bar cookie.
Hannah carried two mugs of coffee to the work station and took a stool across from Norman. “Do you have Clara’s phone with you?”
“I have it, but after Cliff gave me her new phone, I went home and put all her photos on my computer. And then I printed out the ones that I thought were important.”
Hannah watched as Norman opened the folder he’d carried in with him. “I enhanced them a bit because they were taken at night in moonlight. The first is one of the pine tree Clara used as the constant in her shadow photos.”
“I’ve always thought that pine was the most beautiful one,” Hannah said. And then her slight smile faltered a bit as she remembered stopping beneath that very tree on one of the walks she’d taken with Ross and how he’d pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
“Here’s the second photo Clara took.” Norman handed it to Hannah. “I worked on the color, but since it’s taken after dark and the moon was out, it’s difficult to judge colors.”
Hannah glanced down at the photo and gasped. “There’s a man standing under the pine!”
“Yes. I think that he saw Clara taking the photo and that’s why he pushed her down and stole her phone.”
“That makes sense if he knew that Clara had taken a picture of him and he didn’t want anyone to know he was there.”
“Yes, and since Clara said she hadn’t even seen the man, she probably didn’t realize that she’d caught his image in her photo. But she would have noticed him when she printed out her photos. And she would have wondered why he was crouching there.”
“That’s true,” Hannah agreed. “What’s around the man’s neck, Norman?”
“I think it’s a pair of binoculars. One of the lenses is catching the moonlight.”
Hannah studied the photo again. “Yes, I think you’re right. I wish we could see his face.”
“So do I, but I’ve enhanced the image to the maximum. Any more and it’ll break down. I did manage to catch the color of his cap, though. It could be blue, but moonlight adds blue to most colors. I used a meter to measure the strength of the blue hue in the shadow and when I subtracted that from the man’s hat, it looked more green than blue.”
“So it’s a Buffalo Plaid hat with squares of black and green?”
“Yes, if that’s what you call that big checkerboard design. Where did they get a name like Buffalo Plaid anyway? I’ve never seen a buffalo wearing plaid.”
Hannah laughed. “And I doubt you will unless one of the park employees in Little Falls decides to put a Buffalo Plaid blanket on one of their bison.”
“If they did, it would be Bison Plaid,” Norman said. “They’re not the same animal, you know.”
“I do know, but in North America the names are used interchangeably. It’s not entirely correct, but it’s so common, it’s acceptable. If we lived in South America or Africa, we’d have Cape Buffalo or Water Buffalo and they’re entirely different. Our North American buffalo or bison roamed the plains and our bison is a bovid.”
“Like cows?”
“Yes. I also know how they got the name Buffalo Plaid if you’re interested.”
“I am. Tell me.”
“A company called Woolrich Woolen Mills made shirts in the eighteen-fifties with a large checkerboard design. Legend has it that their designer owned a herd of buffalo and that’s why they called the design Buffalo Plaid.”
Norman picked up the phone he’d put down on the work station. “I wonder if I should run out to your complex and give this phone to Clara now.”
“Yes, I think you should. And I also think you should run out to the sheriff’s station on your way and show Mike your enhanced photo. I’d go with you, but . . . I don’t really want to go back to the condo complex, at least not yet.”
“Of course you don’t. I can stop at the sheriff’s station, take Clara her new phone, and be back here in an hour. Then I can take you back to the penthouse.”
“Good. I’ve got one more thing I want to do before I leave anyway. And that’s about as long as it’ll take me.”
BUTTERSCOTCH CHOCOLATE BAR COOKIES
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
The Crust and Topping:
2 cups (4 sticks, 16 ounces, 1 pound) salted butter softened to room temperature
1 cup white (granulated) sugar
1 and ½ cups powdered (confectioners) sugar
2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
The Butterscotch Chocolate Filling:
12.25-ounce jar butterscotch ice cream topping (I used Smucker’s)
12-ounce bag (approximately 2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Nestlé)
1 Tablespoon sea or Kosher salt (the coarse-ground kind)
Before you begin to make the crust and filling, spray a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan with Pam or another nonstick baking spray.
Hannah’s 1st Note: This crust and filling is a lot easier to make with an electric mixer. You can do it by hand, but it will take some muscle.
Combine the butter, white sugar, and powdered sugar in a large bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat at MEDIUM speed until the mixture is light and creamy.
Add the vanilla extract. Mix it in until it is thoroughly combined.
Add the flour in half-cup increments, beating at LOW speed after each addition. Beat until everything is combined.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: When you’ve mixed in the flour, the resulting sweet dough will be soft. Don’t worry. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
Measure out a heaping cup of sweet dough and place it in a sealable plastic bag. Seal the bag and put it in the refrigerator.
With impeccably clean hands, press the rest of the sweet dough into the bottom of your prepared cake pan. This will form a bottom crust. Press it all the way out to the edges of the pan and a half-inch up the sides, as evenly as you can. Don’t worry if your sweet dough is a bit uneven. It won’t matter to any of your guests.
Bake your bottom crust at 325 degrees F., for approximately 20 minutes or until the edges are beginning to turn a pale golden brown color.
When the crust has turned pale golden brown, remove the pan from the oven, but DON’T SHUT OFF THE OVEN! Set the pan with your baked crust on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack to cool. It should cool approximately 15 minutes.
After your crust has cooled approximately 15 minutes, take the lid off the jar of butterscotch ice cream topping and put it in the microwave.
Heat the butterscotch topping for 15 to 20 seconds on HIGH.
Let the jar cool in the microwave for 1 minute. Then use potholders to take the jar out of the microwave.
Pour the butterscotch ice cream topping over the baked bottom crust in the pan as evenly as you can.
Smooth it out to the edges of your crust with a heat-resistant spatula.
Open the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and sprinkle them over the butterscotch ice cream topping as evenly as you can.
Here comes the salt! Sprinkle the Tablespoon of sea salt or Kosher salt over the butterscotch layer in the pan.
Take the remaining sweet dough out of the refrigerator and unwrap it. It has been refrigerated for 35 minutes or more and it should be thoroughly chilled.
With your impeccably clean fingers, crumble the dough over the butterscotch and chocolate chip layer as evenly as you can. Leave a little space between the crumbles, so the butterscotch sauce can bubble up through the crumbles.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: If the butterscotch topping bubbles up through the top of your bar cookies, it will look very pretty.
Return the pan to the oven and bake your bar cookies for 25 to 30 additional minutes, or until the crumbles on top are a light golden brown.
Hannah’s 4th Note: Your pan of Butterscotch Chocolate Bar Cookies will smell so delicious, you’ll be tempted to cut it into squares and eat one immediately. Resist that urge! The bubbly hot butterscotch topping will burn your mouth.
After 5 minutes of cooling time, use potholders to carry the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
Hannah’s 5th Note: When I bake these bar cookies at home in the winter, I place a wire rack out on the little table on my condo balcony and carry the pan out there. The Butterscotch Chocolate Bar Cookies cool quite fast when exposed to a Minnesota winter.
When your Butterscotch Chocolate Bar Cookies are completely cool, cut them into brownie-size pieces, place them on a pretty plate, and serve them to your guests.
Yield: A cake pan full of yummy brownie-sized treats that everyone will love. Serve with icy-cold glasses of milk, mugs of hot chocolate, or cups of strong, hot coffee.
Hannah’s 6th Note: These are Doc Knight’s favorite bar cookies.
